This article makes me soo mad! Those "scientists" should be locked up for fraud. For one thing, they never established any link between CCD and nosema, for another thing, they never cured a CCD colony, all they did is say: "We found that we can cure nosma with fumidil B" and added "that must be good news in the fight against CCD"... nevermind that we've been using fumidil B to treat nosema for how many decades now? If they got paid one penny for that they should be locked up for fraud. This kind of junk science that relies on public stupidity to siphon money away from real research pee'd me off to no end.

I find it extremely difficult to believe that is something as simple as Nosema, something we have known and treated for for as stated previously for decades at least. The articles actually stops short of stating that Nosema is the cause of colony collapse disorder, but infers it. I believe that in the past Nosema was called colony wasting / withering disorder remember that from England I believe--so nothing new here what happened to the virus and protein deficiencies that were stated as a probably cause coupled with the extreme stress the bees are places under. I do believe that migratory beekeepers cause their bees great stress causing the immunological system of the bee to either fail altogether or make them more susceptible to disease.Barry

So out of the thousands of collapsed hives tested these past few years, no one ever found Nosema Ceranea before?

These scientists didn't find it either. Their study had nothing to do with CCD and only focused on Nosema... the article was simply misleading for sensationalism's sake. They sure got a lot of people reading the article, but I'll at least never believe anything they publish again.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Nosema Ceranae a different strain of Nosema than the much more common Nosema Apis? In which case, it may not have been detected in previous tests for N. Ceranae... I'm going to have to do a bit of research here.

yes nosema ceranae is a different strain from the nosema that affects apis mellifera. the ceranae strain affects apis cerana which is the asiatic honeybee. i'll copy and paste something here:N. ceranae and N. apis have similar life cycles, but they differ in spore morphology. Spores of N. ceranae seem to be slightly smaller under the light microscope and the number of polar filament coils is between 20 and 23, rather than the more than 30 often seen in N. apis.

The disease afflicts adult bees and depopulation occurs with consequent losses in honey production. One does not detect symptoms of diarrhea like in Nosema apis.

The most significant difference between the two types is how quickly N. ceranae can cause a colony to die. Bees can die within 8 days after exposure to N. ceranae, which is faster than bees exposed to N. apis. The foraging force seems to be affected the most. They leave the colony and are too weak to return, thus dying in the field. This leaves behind a small cluster and a weak colony, very similar to the symptoms of CCD. There is little advice on treatment but it has been suggested that the most effective control of Nosema ceranae is the antibiotic fumagillin as recommended for Nosema apis. [9] The genome of Nosema ceranae was sequenced by scientists in 2009. This should help scientists trace its wikt:migration patterns, establish how it became dominant, and help measure the spread of infection by enabling diagnostic tests and treatments to be developed

This pathogen has been tentatively linked to Colony Collapse Disorder, a phenomenon reported primarily from the United States, since fall of 2006. Highly preliminary evidence of N. ceranae was reported in a few hives in the Merced Valley area of California (USA). "Tests of genetic material taken from a "collapsed colony" in Merced County point to a once-rare microbe that previously affected only Asian bees but might have evolved into a strain lethal to those in Europe and the United States.[3][4]" The researcher did not, however, believe this was conclusive evidence of a link to CCD; "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved.[5]" A USDA bee scientist has similarly stated, "while the parasite nosema ceranae may be a factor, it cannot be the sole cause. The fungus has been seen before, sometimes in colonies that were healthy."[

NC has been around as far back as 20 years in collected samples. It has been here longer than originally thought. It was just nobody was looking for it. It is not like the stuff just popped on the scene with the CCD issue.

sorry, but im not really all that educated with ccd, but i would like to know a few things, just curious, where )=(70%) of the bees that live nativly in america affected by ccd??? or was it mostly commercial and hobbiest bee keepers,

and one thing about this planet is that its always creating new life, ie, new animals, new plants, new weeds, etc etc, could it be possible that a certain weed could be responsible,, because the only thing that can travel and migrate as fast as birds and insects, ... is weeds???????

anywayz, informative answers would be appreciated just for better knowledge :P

where did ccd happen first and where did ccd happen last (what where the first and last states affected?)

I wish I had retained the link, marine, but someone else posted that they found a combination of checkmite and another (specific - the name escapes me) chemical in 100% of the ccd hives.I can't swear it's true either.